The family of an 11-year-old boy in Mississippi is calling for a police officer to be charged with aggravated assault after shooting the child during a domestic disturbance call made by the boy himself. According to the family’s lawyer, Carlos Moore, Aderrien Murry, who had called the police at his mother’s request, was unarmed and compliant with the instructions given by Indianola officer Greg Capers when he was shot in the chest last Saturday.
During a protest at Indianola City Hall, Moore expressed the family’s demand for justice and highlighted the severity of the incident. He emphasized that the 11-year-old Black boy had done nothing wrong and had acted appropriately in a situation where his life came perilously close to being lost.
Nakala Murry, Aderrien’s mother, tearfully shared her anguish, stating that her son is fortunate to be alive but cannot comprehend why he was shot by an officer. She lamented that this was the worst moment of her life and felt as though nobody cared about her child.
According to Moore, Nakala had asked her son to call the police around 4 am when the father of one of her other children arrived at their home and became agitated, posing a threat. Aderrien, in an effort to protect his mother, made the call for help to the police and also contacted his grandmother. Moore explained that the police arrived and the situation escalated.
Describing the events that unfolded, Moore revealed that two officers responded, with one forcibly kicking in the front door before Aderrien opened it. Nakala informed them that the intruder had left but three children remained inside. Moore stated that Capers, according to Murry’s account, shouted into the home, instructing anyone inside to come out with their hands raised. Aderrien entered the living room with empty hands, and it was then that Capers shot him in the chest.
Indianola City Attorney Kimberly Merchant confirmed that Capers was the officer who fired the shot, as reported by The Enterprise-Tocsin newspaper. Moore called for the release of body camera footage and expressed objections to Capers being placed on paid leave pending the investigation.
Aderrien Murry was treated at the University of Mississippi Medical Center and released on Wednesday, according to CNN. The Mississippi Bureau of Investigation is now conducting a probe into the shooting.
This incident adds to the series of cases involving unarmed African Americans being shot by the police. In April, a 52-year-old man was killed by officers who responded to a domestic violence call at the wrong house in New Mexico. Additionally, the death of Breonna Taylor during a botched police raid in Louisville, Kentucky, in 2020 remains a prominent example of police violence.